


Not Even Wild Elephants

by agentsimmons



Category: Dumbo (1941)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-18
Updated: 2014-09-18
Packaged: 2018-02-17 08:02:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2302442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agentsimmons/pseuds/agentsimmons
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Timothy wonders why he bothers taking care of Dumbo. [Human-AU based on similar circus setting circa 1941 with similar events from the animated film.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not Even Wild Elephants

Timothy Q. "The Mouse" Jones wasn't one to back away from a challenge. 

"It's not like I gotta help the kid," he thought to himself as he waited for Dumbo, as the boy was cruelly nicknamed, to get ready. "Not like I'm gettin' anything out of it," he shrugged.

Every now and then the middle-aged circus hand, and retired boxer, wondered why he had taken the young, dopey looking, mute boy under his wing when his mother had gotten sent unfairly to the women's penitentiary for 8 months. 

"It's your civil duty," he chastised himself when this mood hit. "And poor Mrs. J," he thought about Dumbo's mother, a woman about 10 years his junior who had always been as sweet as pie to everybody unless they deserved otherwise. She'd always been kind to him anyhow. The least he could do was return the favor.

"But I'm just an average guy with no experience raisin' kids. They got homes for this kind of thing. Good ones too now. Not like the one I was in," he argued with himself. He'd hated being a nobody that nobody wanted as a kid. Sure, it had made him tough and made him figure out how to fend for himself. He'd made good too, working as an honest enough boxer and then getting a steady job once he had enough cash stashed to live okay on.

Of course, he was lucky. A lot of the other kids he'd been in homes with, they didn't get out so well. Some were in prison, others on their way if nothing changed, and other similar fates. Or worse. "Who are you kidding? You know Dumbo wouldn't last a week in a place like that. He can barely take cleaning out the elephant stalls and that's all he's known. Those kids'll eat him alive and nobody's gonna have his back like you, pal," he shook his head. 

No, there was nothing for it. He couldn't bring himself to abandon the kid now. The boy had already been separated from his mother, had no father around, and only had a place to stay with the circus as long as he kept working for next-to-nothing and stayed out of the way. 

"Am I a man or a mouse?" Timothy posed the question seriously as he reached his conclusion. "Dumbo needs me and that's that." 

Within minutes, the boy came bounding out of the little trailer they now shared. "Hey, kid," Timothy looked the boy over to make sure he looked decent before reaching down and straightening his bow tie. "You ready to go visit your mother?" The smile that lit up the boy's face and eyes was an emphatic yes and Timothy couldn't help but smile back a little himself. 

He might not be ready to admit it yet, but he'd gotten pretty attached to the kid and not even wild elephants could separate them now. 

**Author's Note:**

> I've actually been meaning to write a human au Dumbo retelling fic for ages. This is just a taste of the idea that's been in my head for awhile (maybe I'll get around to extending it later). This is possibly my favorite of the fics I wrote for my friend's challenge.


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